“While crafting a film, or a novel, the weaknesses of the characters are your strongest guide.” —Nuri Bilge Ceylan

One of the most prominent auteurs of our time, Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s career in film started with exceptionally personal works, shot in a minimalist style and starring members of his family. Winner of the Palme d’Or, and two-time winner of the Grand Jury Prize in Cannes, Ceylan has established himself over the years as a master of film language utilizing mostly static shots, contemplative long takes and an exquisite, high-contrast visual style that blends a realist tone with sublime imagery.

Although he has been known for an absence of speech in his films, the Turkish director later developed his style by incorporating plenty of sophisticated dialogue, shifting gears towards a cinema that is more comparable to literature. That Ceylan was inspired by Russian writers, especially Chekhov, is evident from his early films such as The Small Town and Clouds of May. However, later films such as Once Upon a Time in Anatolia and The Winter Sleep brought this relationship between literature and cinema to a new level, with layered characters that speak of the nuances of the human condition. Consistently analyzing mundane reflections of existential angst, his films are full of the echoes of the characters’ self-scrutiny.

Ceylan’s cinema has the power to slowly change how we perceive ourselves by exploring the nature of human fragility patiently, and thereby create an immense opportunity of confrontation with our inner world. The eight films of this great director invite the viewer to an introspective journey overflowing with epiphanies.